Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
We actually recommend this as the primary method of report script creation while
keeping the other two methods for editing existing scripts.
We will discuss the Essbase Query Designer in-depth in the next chapter. So, for
now, we will go over just briefly why we like this method.
For starters, the Essbase Query Designer allows you to visually select database outline
members you wish to include in your report or extract. It also allows you to decide the
placement of the column members and the row members. While the resultant query is
designed to be used with a Microsoft Excel worksheet, when you save the query, you
also have the option of having Query Designer create an Essbase report script from the
parameters and selection criteria you specified in your query.
With very little modification, an automatically generated Essbase report script can
be executed from EssCmd scripts, API calls, or MaxL command scripts.
Another benefit of using the Query Designer to generate a report script is that it will
properly code complex functionality for you. Therefore, there are no elusive syntax
errors for you to debug.
Report script commands and functions
Well, just like the calculation scripts, there are several different categories of Essbase
report script commands and instructions. Unlike the calculation commands and
functions, the report script commands and instructions basically deal with data
selection and formatting.
As we said earlier, the arsenal of data selection commands and instructions is perhaps
not the most robust when compared to the specific commands available to a user of
SQL for instance. This can occasionally result in more data than is required being
returned. This is hardly an issue that is worth fretting over.
We will list for you here the complete report script command and instruction
categories. For each category, we will give examples of a couple of the most commonly
used commands or instructions. For a complete list of all Essbase report script
commands and instructions, please refer to the EAS Online Help that is supplied with
each installation of EAS.
